I'm a Hornet with President Shonrock

February 19, 2014

1. The Grand Finale of the Emporia State University Sesquicentennial GALA (Saturday, February 15, 2014) included a 150th Commemorative Overture commissioned by Assistant Professor and Conductor Jeremy Starr and composed by Professor Gary Ziek; Gabe and Benny’s Right Now ESU hype-song transcribed for the orchestra by Professor Andrew Houchins; announcement of the Now & Forever National Campaign Committee; Sodexho’s wonderful dinner; followed by ESU’s Jazz Ensemble and dancing!

2. We have two winners for this year’s 1863 essay contest sponsored by the President’s Community Advisory Committee! Kendra Briggs, a graduate student majoring in music performance, was awarded first place and will receive $1,000. Kristina Bramwell, who earned a bachelor’s degree in social sciences in 2009, is an undergraduate in elementary education. She was awarded second place and will receive $863. A special thanks to Mel Storm and this year’s essay judges: David Edds, Jim Hoy, Carl Prophet, Betsy Yanik, Don Miller, and Karen Manners Smith!

3. The Teachers College recently hosted two Kansas Master Teachers, MichelleLynn Bogner from Dodge City and Michele Palmgren from Salina. Congratulations to Michelle and Michele!

4. On February 12th the School of Business Dean, faculty, staff, and students represented Emporia State University at the Kansas Board of Regent’s monthly meeting. The presentation focused the School of Business' ability to leverage institutional assets and align with the Kansas Board of Regents strategic agenda of Foresight 2020, focusing on High School Outreach, the Kansas Small Business Development Center at Emporia State University, and the 3D Emporia competition.

5.Shout Out to Professors Diane Nutbrown, Kim Simons, and Eric Trump recommending students to ESU Career Services who recently coordinated campus interviews for a number of new part time opportunities with Emporia’s new CVS Pharmacy, opening March 2014.

6. Congratulations to Professor Nate Terrell from the Sociology, Anthropology, and Crime and Delinquency Studies department for being featured in Ingram’s50 Kansans You Should Know!

7. ESU’s Retention Data SkyBox site can be viewed at http://sky.emporia.edu/skybox/Retention%20Data/Forms/AllItems.aspx. This site includes various pieces of ESU retention data (by department, 10% Window, NSSE), research literature, articles with tips and strategies regarding retention, and the current version of the working document for the Retention Action Team.

8. The Financial Aid and Scholarship Office is hosting College Goal Sunday on February 23, 2014 from 2 to 4 at the Emporia High School Library. This event is designed to assist first time Free Application for Federal Students Aid (FAFSA) filers. Jule Kirk and Jessica Sauer, Financial Aid and Scholarship Office, staff members are the local site coordinators.

9.Alex and Anita Dowdell were married in the newly remodeled learning commons area located in William Allen White Library on February 14. Hongzhi “Anita” Meng is an international graduate student from China, and Alex is a Ph.D. candidate at KU from Littleton, CO.

10. Amir Cuffe and Denelle Hurd, our Kansas City and Wichita Area Admissions Counselors, delivered more than 50 Bagel Buckets to 50 area schools in December 2013 and January 2014. The counselors reported that high school office staff and counselors were very excited to receive the bagels!

11. Our Financial Aid and Scholarships Office passed their recent Legislative Post Audit review, which was conducted by RubenBrown LLP on behalf of the State of Kansas, with no findings.

12. Highlighting support for Governor Brownback’s budget recommendations and alignment with the Kansas Board of Regents goals of 60%+ of Kansans with post-secondary credentials, along with discussing numerous accomplishments of ESU faculty, staff, students, and partnerships with the Emporia community, President Michael Shonrock has completed his testimony before the Senate Ways & Means Subcommittee on Education and the House Committee on Education Budget.

14. We are happy to report that 93% of our Hornets with an Attitude of Gratitude wrote thank you notes to our generous scholarship donors. Stay tuned for plans for our new and improved “Thank You” event in fall 2014.

15. The Strategic Planning and Campus Master Planning initiatives are going very well! Check for updates on these processes on ESU’s SkyBox site: http://sky.emporia.edu/skybox/default.aspx under the University Strategic Planning and University Master Planning folders.

16.Associated Student Government took 7 participants to the Capitol on February 11th, 2014 with other students from Regent universities and Washburn University to advocate on behalf of higher education. The group met with several different legislators throughout the day to talk about funding and possible sales tax exemption on textbooks, and thought the trip was a success.

17. At the Social Media Policy Workgroup’s second meeting on Tuesday, February 11, Frank LoMonte, Executive Director of the Student Press Law Center, and Dr. Richard Levy, Professor at the KU School of Law addressed the group about issues involving First Amendment, Academic Freedom, and social media in general. Co-chairs, Charles EPP (KU Professor) and Kevin Johnson (ESU General Counsel and Professor) will prepare a draft of a revised policy to present to the group on February 28.

18. Roxana Peraza, Admissions Counselor, has translated the Emporia State Freshman Mailer into Spanish. It is available at Emporia High School and by request. She will begin translating www.imahornet.com into Spanish this spring semester.

19. We had 82 students audition in the course of 2 days for the I’M A Hornet recruitment campaign, compared to 40 students over 3 days same time last year, along with 6,530 scans of our augmented reality enabled I’M A Hornet postcards.